Sanding Semi-solid floor

Apip99

Afternoon all,

A freind is having his semi solid fllor replaced. Its only been down a year in the living room and hall. They had a problem with some boards pealing in the hall, and can't get the same boards again so they are replacing the lot. They have said we can have the boards they are taking up.

The problem is the wifeisn't mad on the colour.

So as my title asks, can you sand semi-solid floor, and then stain or varnish a darker colour?

Thanks in advance,

Pip

Do-more

Normally there shouldn't be a problem in doing this, most 14mm semi-solids are good for at least 4 or 5 sandings. In your instance, your really only looking to remove the lacquer so that you can expose the raw wood for staining so you should only need a fine grit. Be careful however to remove all the lacquer as any that is left will inhibit the stain. I would reccomend testing one plank first before installing the floor.

Was the problem in their hall due to local conditions or a manufacturing fault? I would be wary if it's the latter.

Also if their flooring was glued along the T&G's you may not get to recover the flooring...

mad m

This all depends on the natural colour of the boards in the first place.If they are hardwood then hardwood is dark in nature and adding a stain only darkens it.

Mellor

mad m wrote:

This all depends on the natural colour of the boards in the first place.If they are hardwood then hardwood is dark in nature and adding a stain only darkens it.

What?? I wouldn't describe hardwoods as naturally dark. Its true that some very dark wood like mahogany, teak and iroko are hardwoods, but some very light woods are also hardwoods. The OP is aware he is only able to darken the flooring. And thats what he wants apparently.

mad m

Mellor wrote:

What?? I wouldn't describe hardwoods as naturally dark. Its true that some very dark wood like mahogany, teak and iroko are hardwoods, but some very light woods are also hardwoods. The OP is aware he is only able to darken the flooring. And thats what he wants apparently.

Well I did say *This all depends on the natural colour of the boards in the first place.*

mad m

Mellor wrote:

What?? I wouldn't describe hardwoods as naturally dark. Its true that some very dark wood like mahogany, teak and iroko are hardwoods, but some very light woods are also hardwoods. The OP is aware he is only able to darken the flooring. And thats what he wants apparently.

Well I did say *This all depends on the natural colour of the boards in the first place.*

No matter what you do to any wood it darkens with age,uv,heat and what type of finish you use.

Apip99

Its cool as its a light wood. So no problems in going darker.

The problem with the floor was that it was laid by their daughter, noe X, boy freind, and he did a bad job, alot of the boards had bounce in them, due to not being laid correctly. Their house is larger than ours, so even with some wastage from them being pulled up, should still be able to get our liviing room done.

Thanks for answering my q.

PIp